This blog provides delicious,traditional, vegetarian, South Indian Recipes from my mother Chitra Amma's kitchen. There are few 'world recipes' as well!
Thanks to Shravan, Pranav, Akash, Tara, Guggs, Shankari, Adu, Dhrithi, and Appa Ramachandran for the photos!

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Saturday, December 3, 2011

Tovvae is basically cooked and mashed dal with a light seasoning and a squeeze of lime juice. Sihi kumbalakai tovvae which my mother prepared often, is a tovvae without the basic ingredient - dal! To be precise it is a 'dal' without dal! I have argued with my mother several times regarding the inappropriate name whenever she prepared sihi kumbalakai tovvae. The flavour and taste of this tovvae is something out of the world and the argumentative mind is shut down the moment the taste buds start approving of it!

INGREDIENTS

Sihi Kumbalakai/ Parangi kottai /Pumpkin - 1 small

Turmeric powder - 1 pinch

Tamarind - 1 small marble size

Salt - 1 tsp

Sesame oil - 2tsps

Bengalgram dal - 1 tbsp

Coriander seeds - 1 tsp

Red chillies - 4 + 1 for seasoning

Asafoetida - 1 pinch

Cinnamon - 1'' piece

Dry coconut gratings / Copra - 2 tbsps

Mustard seeds - 1 pinch

Curry leaves - a few

Cashew nuts - a few

METHOD

1. Peel and chop the pumpkin into big cubes.( Roughly four cups of cubes )

2. Soak tamarind in warm water and extract the juice.

3. Add turmeric powder and cook the pumpkin cubes in tamarind juice on medium flame. Add little more water if necessary to cover the vegetable.

4. In the mean while heat 1/4 tsp of oil and add cinnamon, bengal gram dal, coriander seeds and red chillies. Roast till it becomes golden in colour giving out a pleasant aroma.

5. Add asafoetida and switch off flame.

6. Grind the roasted ingredients into a fairly smooth powder adding copra in the end.

7. When the pumpkin is thoroughly cooked add salt and mash well using the back of the ladle.

8. Add the ground powder and cook for one more minute till the spice blends well with the pumpkin and switch off flame. The consistency should be thick like a gravy.

9. Heat the remaining oil in a seasoning ladle and add mustard seeds.

10.When the mustard seeds splutter add the cashew nuts and fry till they become golden in colour.

11. Add one broken red chilly and the curry leaves and pour the seasoning on the tovvae.

(If you still want the name Tovvae to be justified, add one scoop of cooked and mashed dal while mashing the cooked pumpkin cubes.)

Enjoy the delicious Sihi Kumbalakai Tovvae with hot rice. It tastes best with Raagi Muddae topped with a liberal helping of fresh ghee.

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Hello

Welcome to Chitra Amma's Kitchen.

I am Dibs. I am a born Foodie. I love to cook; love to eat; love to feed folks who appreciate good food. Blogging provides me a great way of documenting my mother, Chitra’s recipes, as a ready reference irrespective which time zone I live in. Amma honestly makes the best food I've ever had, and somehow, the anecdotes she tells us, make the dishes taste all the better.Most posts here are written by my mother Chitra. It’s her recipes, along with related reminiscences of people, places and anecdotes. She writes, I post!What started for a lark, has now become a serious hobby, drawing in participation from the whole family. My father, S.R. Ramachandran has started clicking away every dish made at home! Aunts, cousins, siblings, contribute to photos, and ask for recipes.We try to illustrate implements such as utensils, grinding stones and so on from the ‘pre-electric-mixer’ days wherever possible. We hope this will make an interesting read for future generations, on how food was cooked in earlier times!The site is still in its infancy, and slowly evolving, as our skills improve! We invite your comments, ideas, and questions, and will attempt answering them.

Thank you for your visit, and we hope you enjoy your stay at Chitra Amma’s Kitchen.